Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice and data. Typical wireless communication systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access systems may include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and the like. Additionally, the systems can conform to specifications such as those defined by the third generation partnership project (3GPP) and the third generation partnership project 2 (3GPP2). For example, wireless communication systems supporting Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE Advanced (LTE-A) have been defined by 3GPP, whereas systems supporting cdma2000 and high rate packet data (HRPD) have been defined by 3GPP2.
In general, a modern wireless communication system includes support for navigation and location capabilities based on received electronic signals (e.g., satellite signals, base station signals, access point signals, visual light signals, etc.). During emergency situations, a wireless device may be used to connect with public emergency systems, such as by dialing 911 or 112. A wireless communication system may provide location information for a mobile device (e.g., the current location of the mobile device) to assist emergency personnel in dispatching appropriate public safety resources and responding to a distress message.
The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) Emergency Location Task Force (ELOC) is standardizing support for high accuracy indoor location for E911 calls made in North America. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is mandating that network operators provide Heightened Accuracy Location Information (HALO for emergency calls made indoors in the form of either a dispatchable civic location for an emergency caller and/or a geographic location accurate to within 50 meters for an emergency caller when an emergency 911 call is placed from a wireless device via a cellular wireless network such as an LTE network.
To this end, the FCC has mandated that global addresses of assets (e.g., WiFi IEEE 802.11 access points (APs), Bluetooth® Low Energy (BTLE) beacons, small-cells such as pico-cells, femto-cells or home base stations, etc.) together with their dispatchable civic locations and possibly geographic locations be stored in a National Emergency Address Database (NEAD) that can be accessed by any cellular wireless network. The global addresses may correspond to 48-bit Media Access Control (MAC) addresses in the case of WiFi APs and BTLE beacons or to global cell IDs in the case of small cells. A civic location may correspond to a street address or postal address and may include a room, suite, apartment, floor, building identity or other like designation where appropriate. A geographic location (also referred to as geodetic location) may correspond to a latitude, longitude and optionally an altitude (e.g., above or below local ground level or mean sea level). The NEAD may be managed by a National Emergency Address Manager (NEAM) that may provide an interface to external users to support addition, modification and deletion of asset information (e.g., for WiFi APs, BTLE beacons and/or small cells) into the NEAD.
A problem may arise when an asset (e.g., a WiFi AP, BTLE beacon or small cell) is transferred to a new owner or new manager (e.g., because of a sale, because an Enterprise owner is acquired by or merged with another Enterprise or because management of the asset in the NEAD and NEAM is transferred to a new third party manager). In that case, the NEAM may reject an attempt by the new owner or new manager of the asset to access or modify information for the asset because it may be required by the NEAM that only the original owner or original manager of the asset be allowed to retrieve, add, change or delete information for the asset. However, a change to asset information, which may need to be reported to the NEAM, is expected to occur occasionally such as when an asset is moved to a new location, taken out of service or transferred to a new owner or new manager. One solution to this problem may be for the new owner or new manager of an asset, and/or the previous owner or previous manager, to report the transfer of ownership or transfer of management of the asset to NEAM operations personnel by means of Email, mail or phone communication and for the NEAM operations personnel to then perform some modification of asset information (e.g., indicating the change of ownership or management) to enable the new owner or new manager to modify or access information for the asset without a rejection from the NEAM. However, this solution may increase NEAM operations cost and may inconvenience owners and managers of assets, which may in turn deter an owner or manager from updating asset information in the NEAD.